The Promise by Nicola Davies

The Promise is a meaningful story told in beautiful language worth savoring:

• “The people had grown as mean and hard and ugly as their city, and I was mean and hard and ugly, too.”
• “But when I tried to snatch it from her, she held on with the strength of heroes.”
• “ . . . and I understood the promise I had made. I held a forest in my arms, and my heart was changed.” 

Possible Strategy Instruction:

• C: Make and adjust predictions; use text to confirm.
• C: Determine and analyze author’s purpose and support with text.
• C: Infer and support with evidence.
• C: Recognize and explain cause-and-effect relationships.

• A: Try a different letter sound.

• F: Adjust and apply different reading rates to match text. 
• F: Read the text as the author would say it, conveying the meaning or feeling. 

• E: Tune in to interesting words and use new vocabulary in speaking and writing.